For startups · Open banking
Open banking for startups on one API
An early-stage team rarely has the time, the people or the authorisation to wire European banks one at a time. Open banking already solved the connectivity, and viaBanking hands it over as a single contract: one API server, one data model, one set of callbacks. Payment initiation and account access run through licensed partners, so your engineers ship the checkout instead of a compliance function.
viaBanking is the software layer. The AIS and PIS licences belong to the partner institutions the platform routes to.
The case
Why startups pick open banking
Three arguments come up in almost every early-stage conversation, and none of them is about payment fees.
- Time
Time goes into the product
A direct build is an integration project per bank, each with its own consent screen, error taxonomy and release cadence. A team of four spends two quarters on plumbing before a customer sees anything. With aggregated access that connectivity already exists.
- Licensing
Provider licensing without the licence
Payment initiation and account information are regulated services in the EU, and becoming an authorised institution costs months of capital, governance and supervision. A startup reaches the same rails on a licensed provider's authorisation instead, and the regulatory obligations sit with that provider rather than with your company.
- Cost curve
Coverage that does not multiply headcount
In a direct build every extra bank adds maintenance, on-call duty and QA forever. Aggregation keeps that curve flat: new coverage arrives as a configuration change on our side while your integration stays exactly as you wrote it.
The technical shape
One integration instead of many
Your backend talks to one API server over https. The platform resolves which licensed provider reaches the customer's bank in that market, translates the request into that provider's format, and returns a normalised response. No bank-specific branch ever enters your codebase.
The model stays stable across providers: the same status values, the same amount and currency fields, the same reference ID on every payment, so reconciliation is written once. Access to each endpoint is scoped per key, calls are authenticated over https with short-lived tokens, and state changes arrive as signed webhooks rather than polling.
Endpoint-level detail lives in the API reference, and the wider surface is described on the open banking API page.
Day one
What a startup gets on day one
Everything an engineer needs to build against, available while the commercial and regulated onboarding runs in parallel.
- Sandbox
Sandbox access
Simulated banks, predictable responses and repeatable failure cases, so the whole flow can be built and tested end to end before any regulated onboarding is finished.
- Docs
Docs and API reference
The docs explain the flow in prose; the endpoint list covers every field, status value and error code. Both are open to read before you sign anything.
- Keys
Keys and environments
Test keys for the sandbox, separate keys for production, and a server address that stays the same across both, so promoting a build is a credential swap and not a rewrite.
- People
A named engineer to ask
A shared channel with someone who has debugged this flow before. Most early-stage blockers are a consent scope or a callback assumption, and both are five minute answers.
What day one does not give is a regulated go-live. Production opens after the licensed provider finishes its onboarding review and the account issuer opens the C2B account for your business. That review belongs to them and it takes the time it takes. Anyone promising a live regulated flow by the end of the week is describing a sandbox, not a payment business.
The boundary
Where the regulated steps sit
Worth knowing before a founder answers this question in a due-diligence call.
- Licensed PIS
Initiation
The account-to-account payment is initiated by a licensed third-party PIS provider on the payer's instruction. viaBanking passes the request through and never initiates on its own account.
- The bank
Authentication and funds
Strong customer authentication is hosted and verified by the payer's own bank, and the money moves on bank rails. No banking credentials reach viaBanking or your application.
- On top
C2B credit verification
Through a licensed AIS provider in read-only mode, the platform confirms that the credit has actually landed on your C2B account. Your service releases the order on that signal.
A fintech startup that understands this split answers investors and partners cleanly: the regulated perimeter belongs to licensed institutions, the product belongs to the fintech team, and the software between them belongs to viaBanking. The verification step is covered in detail on the account verification page.
FAQ
Questions founders ask first
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Do we need our own licence to accept open banking payments?
No. The AIS and PIS authorisations belong to the licensed partner institutions behind the platform, and the regulated steps are performed by them. Your startup contracts for software and for access to those partners, and still owns its product decisions, its customer onboarding and its commercial terms.
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How fast can we start?
Sandbox access and the docs are available as soon as we open your workspace, so engineering can start the same week. Production runs on a different clock: it opens once the licensed provider completes its onboarding review and the EMI opens your C2B account.
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What does the sandbox actually prove?
That your integration is correct: request shapes, consent handling, callback processing, retries and reconciliation against the reference ID. It does not prove commercial acceptance, and the provider still reviews your business model and expected volumes before live traffic.
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Is viaBanking a bank or a payment institution?
Neither. viaBanking is a software company: we do not hold client funds, execute bank payments or hold an AIS or PIS licence. Everything regulated in the flow is delivered by licensed partner institutions.
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What happens when we expand into a new market?
Your code stays the same. Where a licensed partner already covers the banks in that market, reaching them is a configuration change on our side. Where none is live yet, coverage has to be arranged before you can sell there.
Start in the sandbox this week
Tell us what you are building and which markets you need first. We open sandbox access, hand over the docs, and start the provider onboarding in parallel. Pricing for early-stage volumes is on the pricing page.
viaBanking is a software and technology provider. Regulated payment initiation and account information services are delivered by licensed partner institutions. viaBanking does not hold an AIS or PIS licence, does not execute bank payments and does not hold or move funds.